Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Early Intervention

I thought it might be a good idea to talk a little bit about early intervention---what it is, and why it's important. When a child's development is delayed it's best to begin supporting the child and parents to encourage that development along at the earliest age possible. This is why I currently help families of infants and toddlers in encouraging their children's development. What we know about the development and learning of young children is that it's much easier to see progression and progress early. The brain is much more "plastic" in those first 3-5 years.

Early intervention in Idaho looks like this:
  • Children birth to three years old who are eligible receive home/community based early intervention services. Children that receive early intervention services birth to three years old have what's called an Individualized Family Service Plan or IFSP, which includes a lot of information about the child and the goals early intervention will address. Early intervention at this age centers around the child's home and family. As of this time, Boise (and possibly the entire State soon) is moving to a "coaching model" of early intervention. With this model one early interventionist from a team, who may be a speech language pathologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, a social worker, or a child development specialist like myself, would have regular visits with the family, helping them to address goals for encouraging their child's participation and learning during everyday routines and activities. Whenever needed any of the other team members (which will include one person from each discipline) will be available to do co-visits. This model utilizes current best practice, and puts in to place our knowledge of how we know young children learn best--it's been very successful so far!
  • Children three years old until Kindergarten who are eligible may receive services with their school district. Children that are eligible for early intervention 3-5 years old will have an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. This plan address pre-academic goals, to ensure that children can become successful in the school setting. For some children this may mean developmental preschool. These preschools that are actually located within some of our elementary schools look like a typical preschool. There are different centers for child initiated learning, structured large and small group times, snack times, times to play outside, and often time for library, music or physical education. The children who attend developmental preschool, often receive speech language therapy, physical therapy or occupational therapy in the classroom based on their different needs. Some school districts include typically developing peers in their preschool classrooms as models.
Please if you ever have concerns about any aspect of your child's development (speech/language, social, motor--anything!) contact the Infant Toddler Program, or your local school district and share your concerns. I always thank parents for going ahead and letting us visit with them and their children--it's always best just to check things out and make sure there isn't any additional supports we can provide children to ensure they grow and learn to the best of their abilities.

As always there is so much I could address in this topic as well. Please feel free to ask any questions.